(upbeat music) - From NJ PBS studios, this is NJ Spotlight News with Brianna Vannozzi.

- Hello, and thanks for joining us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis, Brianna Vannozzi is off.

Coming up, summer heart health.

We'll discuss what you need to know to protect your cardiovascular health in the heat.

And later, revolutionary road trip.

As we mark the nation's 250th this year, we'll get you a guide to exploring the state's historical sites of the American Revolution.

But first, New Jersey's recent ban of AR-15 style rifles was overturned in federal court.

So what does that mean for gun owners who want to own semi-automatic rifles?

We'll bring you the latest.

That's next.

Funding for NJ Spotlight News provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Learn more at rwjbh.org.

A major federal appeals court ruling could dramatically reshape New Jersey's gun laws.

In a 10 to 5 decision, the full Third Circuit struck down the state's ban on AR-15 style semi-automatic rifles, along with its limit on magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

New Jersey's attorney general calls the ruling "legally wrong" and says the state is weighing its next steps.

But the decision comes as other gun restrictions will be taken up by Supreme Court.

I recently spoke to an attorney representing the group that brought the suit challenging New Jersey's gun ban.

His name is Daniel Schmutter.

He represents the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs.

Daniel, it's great to have you with us.

As you know, New Jersey has had a ban on assault weapons and certain large capacity magazines for decades.

Since the early 1990s, the appeals court overturned that ban in a case that your organization brought.

Can you tell me about the lawsuit that was filed here that made its way to the appeals court?

Thanks so much, Joanna.

Yes, so this is actually three different lawsuits.

I represent the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs.

And we initially brought the first lawsuit, which is called Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs versus Attorney General of New Jersey back in 2018, challenging New Jersey's ban on magazines.

And one of the problems with these laws is that New Jersey likes to use inflammatory terminology to describe these things to frighten people.

So for example, the magazine law refers to the magazines that are banned as large capacity magazines, but in fact, they're standard capacity magazines.

Large capacity, the phrase large capacity magazines makes them sound unusual or scary.

But these are magazines, these are ordinary magazines that go with ordinary firearms that millions of people in the United States possess.

So we brought that lawsuit back in 2018.

And then after the Supreme Court decided a very important case called New York State Rifle and Pistol Association versus Bruin in 2022, we added a second lawsuit addressing again what the state of New Jersey refers to as so-called assault firearms, another very inflammatory, inaccurate, and misleading term, again designed to frighten people.

These are ordinary firearms, ordinary rifles that millions of people own in the United States.

And the purpose of using this kind of inflammatory language like so-called assault weapon or assault rifle is to frighten people who might not otherwise be familiar with what they are.

And this is important because the very idea that these magazines that are banned and these firearms that are banned are so commonly possessed and commonly used by millions of people throughout the United States is one of the key constitutional principles that led to the invalidation of these laws.

And so- Yeah, let me jump in there because the ruling was set, as you're saying, was set on precedent that came out of the Bruin case that holds that any restrictions on guns must be set in the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.

And so that brings in that common use term that you were just referring to.

When we say common use, is there common use nationally?

Is there common use as defined in New Jersey?

- It's common use nationally.

And the reason it's national is because the Second Amendment and the Constitution applies nationally.

There's no one Constitution that applies to New Jersey and another Constitution that applies to Texas or Pennsylvania or Connecticut.

And so when the Supreme Court hears these constitutional cases and has to rule on things like the Second Amendment or the First Amendment or really any constitutional provision, the law of the Constitution is a great example of that.

Very recently, the Supreme Court decided a case called Wolford v. Lopez dealing with an unconstitutional Hawaii law also relating to the Second Amendment.

And Hawaii's position was, well, we have a certain tradition in Hawaii that goes back many, many, many years.

And therefore, we think we can prohibit people from exercising their fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

And the Supreme Court said, no, there's no, there's no one constitutional provision for Hawaii and a separate constitutional provision for the rest of the country.

So the historical tradition that has to be satisfied in order for states or other government entities to defend these laws is a national historical tradition.

Yeah.

I believe that ruling in Hawaii had to do with whether or not individuals could carry guns onto private property, if I understand that case correctly.

What does this ruling here in New Jersey mean for gun owners in the state?

Well, it means that New Jersians don't have to feel singled out and separated from the rest of the country.

I mean, the rest, most of the rest of the country enjoys the constitutional right to keep and bear arms relating to ordinary rifles and ordinary magazines for those rifles and handguns and as well.

And so New Jersians now can feel like, you know, at least in this respect, their constitutional rights have been vindicated.

It's been many, as you correctly noted, it's been many, many years that New Jersey has infringed on this fundamental right.

And New Jersians have been living for decades under this oppressive regime.

And, you know, it is astonishing that these legislatures like New Jersey think that they can address issues of crime by punishing law-abiding people.

You know, you don't try to address criminals who misuse firearms by restricting the activities of the law-abiding people, just like you wouldn't address drunk driving by restricting, you know, law-abiding drivers.

You wouldn't ban cars if you wanted to solve the drunk driving problem.

You shouldn't ban ordinary firearms to solve the problem of crime.

Daniel, let me just ask you this.

Bruin obviously has had massive implications on cases that have followed it.

The U.S.

Supreme Court is planning to hear two cases that will be consolidated into one, challenges against a ban in Connecticut and Illinois on these types of guns.

Do you have a sense as to where the Supreme Court might take this given recent rulings, Heller, Bruin, and even what we're seeing in the appeals court now as decided by the precedent set under Bruin.

Well, for your viewers to follow that case, those cases are called Viramontes versus Cook County, and the second case is called Grant, although they'll be captioned under the Viramontes caption.

You know, obviously, you know, it's very difficult to predict what courts and judges are going to do.

I've been doing this, I've been practicing law for more than 30 years, and so I've sort of gotten out of the business of making predictions, but you have to recognize that there's clearly a core of justices on that court that seem to have a pretty clear thinking and a pretty clear understanding of how the Second Amendment works.

So if I had to decide, if I had to choose, would I rather be us or would I rather be them, I think I'd rather be us going into the Vermontas case, you know, without being able to make any clear predictions.

Yes, of course, we can't prognosticate what the high court will do, but Daniel Schmutter, attorney for the Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, thank you so much for taking some time today, appreciate it.

Thank you, Joanna.

The summer months mean getting outside more, from swimming, walking, running, even yard work, but all this activity coupled with the heat and sometimes poor air quality can take a toll on your heart.

In fact, for both men and women, heart disease is the leading cause of death among New Jerseyans and Americans.

So, how can you protect your heart this summer?

Dr.

Brett Selove is Chief of Cardiology at Jersey Shore Medical Center and Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Cardiology at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine.

And he's here with some advice.

Dr.

Selove, great to have you on the show.

We often think of the summer as really an optimal time to get outside and to be active.

That's a good thing, yes?

Definitely.

But don't forget, you know, the heart doesn't take a summer vacation and there are plenty of risks out there that people need to be mindful of.

Okay, let's talk about some of those risks that can come in particular with the warmer weather.

Yeah, I mean, we've all felt the warm weather and we've also seen, felt, and experienced those Canadian wildfires and that air quality.

And actually when you put both of them together, we have seen and known that it really can be a detriment to your health.

In fact, for the 24 hours after when both of those events collided together, there was a 42% increased risk of heart attack alone, doubling the amount of heart attack deaths, and even 70% of increase of out of hospital cardiac arrests.

So that doesn't mean to scare you, it's just you need to be mindful of these risks, mindful that we're all at some element of risk, and the people that are at highest risk are the people that have chronic diseases, elderly, and in the most vulnerable populations.

I want to take this kind of in chunks because we know that warmer weather comes with higher humidity.

We're going to talk about that in a minute, but I want to focus really on this wildfires issue because as we've seen, warmer weather, unfortunately, is correlating with more wildfires and many of us, even if we're not near the fire, are getting the impact of it and all that smoke.

So help us understand those increased risks that you just talked about.

Why?

What is actually happening in our bodies?

Yeah, well, from the wildfire standpoint, from poor air quality, you know, we typically either smell it or feel it in your lungs after you take a big deep breath, but what's happening on the inside is actually much more profound.

Believe it or not, the fine particulate that you inhale can sometimes not get filtered by your lungs and go into your bloodstream.

And those things are seen as foreign objects.

Foreign objects bring inflammation throughout your blood and can cause an increased risk of clotting.

So that is how the bad air quality affects the risk of heart attack.

When you put profound extreme heat on top of that, you are really dealing with a double-edged sword.

So heat in and of itself is putting a strain on the heart.

Even if you're 12 years old, the difference is when you're 12, you can compensate and have a tremendous amount of reserve.

But when you're 82 with not perfect lungs, not a perfect heart and a lot of risks, you are definitely putting yourself in harm's way without really being mindful of even that it's happening.

Again, it's not to scare people, it's just to be knowledgeable.

And when all of these things actually do really occur at the same time, very poor air quality, very elevated temperatures.

The American Heart Association and people like myself actually advise people to not do significant exercise because the benefits are just not there and the risks are too high.

And I just have to ask as someone who loves my outdoor summer walks and just found myself stuck inside, I jumped on the Peloton instead.

But is it a bad idea to even be exercising inside?

How much of that particulate matter is coming inside the house?

Yeah, the answer is really not.

I mean, your home and your air conditioning unit essentially is one of the best filters you have, and you're not really going to get exposed to the point where you're putting yourself at risk.

So we want everybody to move.

We want everybody to exercise.

We just want to be mindful of the risks and when it is extreme, to just be careful.

Okay, so you told us a couple of things we want to get to.

We're going to talk about humidity, won't forget that, but you said that heat itself can have an impact on the heart, even for 12-year-olds.

How?

Why?

Yeah, what's happening inside without getting too granular is the heart is actually working harder during extreme heat conditions.

So that is the new baseline when it's 102 degrees out and the humidity index is very elevated.

So you're starting at a baseline that the threshold to overcome concern or harm is actually you're just much closer to that threshold.

So it is putting some element of baseline strain on the heart.

And again, most of the time we really have nothing to worry about.

But when all the moons align with your baseline risks, it just should not be minimized, that that may be a time to either take a gentle walk, when by the way, it's early in the morning, late at night, the temperatures are dropping, or just even to do what you did, exercise a little bit inside, do some calisthenics, or just take a day off, it's just not worth it.

- Yeah, and the humidity piece, what are the concerns there?

- Yeah, same kind of discussion.

All of these are element of risks.

When you put them all together, that's where we get into trouble.

Humidity of itself, it just has to deal with air quality and humidity and just your ability to really gas exchange.

But all of these things taken in totality is the biggest concern.

In and of itself, humidity alone won't really do tremendous amounts to you.

But again, just be mindful of all of these things colliding together.

And we all need to look out for each other, right?

The grandchildren need to look out for the parents and the grandparents and vice versa.

You know, it is really bi-directional.

- Okay, so we really do wanna be able to optimize these summer months.

What should we be doing for the eight to nine months out of the year before it's really warm and we wanna be outside to make sure that we have good heart health?

- Yeah, well, I tell everybody, hydrate like it's your business and hydrate before you get thirsty.

You know thirst lags behind dehydration.

So really stay hydrated.

And that is a very challenging thing for people to do in and of itself.

It's also really hard to know like what does that really mean?

What does that mean to me?

That may be something different to me than a 92 year old who's 100 pounds.

The answer is what's the need?

What's the expenditure?

And the short answer, while not perfect, is you need to hydrate enough that you're going to the bathroom relatively frequently and it's relatively clear.

That's sort of the cheap man/woman's version of knowing how hydrated you are.

And then in terms of physical activity?

Yeah, the answer is you really almost can't do too much moderate physical activity.

What I would hope that we learned from 50 plus years of data that approximately 150 minutes of moderate exercise a week would essentially save billions of dollars in healthcare expenditures annually and save countless lives and decrease the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes.

So it's really get up and go, get out and move.

The more you can do, the better, as long as you're not hurting your body and being mindful of your orthopedic elements.

Okay, really quickly, just a minute left.

I know that there are different signs of risk of heart attack for men and women.

What should men look out for?

What should women look out for that maybe something's wrong?

Yeah, that could take an hour, but in a minute or less, the answer is we all need to be mindful that this is the number one killer in the Western world.

This is not an old man's disease.

Listen to your body.

Listen to your physician.

Know your numbers, right?

Know your blood pressure, your cholesterol.

Know that most days you got to move, treat, sleep, and stress like its own cardiac risk factors, not just, you know, a little extra thing on the side.

And just know that there are countless things you can do to prevent this disease from happening to you.

And you really don't want to be a statistic.

You want to be proactive and prevent this disease from ever happening.

And again, with you put all your efforts together, there's a you could modify your risks by 80 to 90%.

It's just not easy to do.

And we need to do much better efforts and actually tackling this disease.

And to know your numbers, you gotta see a doctor.

Dr.

Brett Seelove, Chair of Cardiology at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, part of Hackensack Meridian Health.

Thank you so much for the advice today.

Appreciate it.

- Thanks for having me.

- PBS viewers have gotten a glimpse into countless unique destinations all over the country with Darlie Newman.

She's the host of "Travels with Darlie," a show that brings you an inside look at the food and culture of so many different places across the U.S.

And with the nation's 250th anniversary this year, she's taken her experiences and crafted a guide for all of us, focused specifically on locations that were pivotal during the founding of our nation.

It's called "Revolutionary Road Trip," and Darlie Newman is here with us now to talk about it.

Darlie, so great to have you on the show today.

I want to talk to you about your book first, this "Revolutionary Road Trip, Hidden Stories from America's Founding Journey."

What inspired you to write this book?

- So I have spent the past few years actually traveling around the original 13 colonies, going to sites related to the American Revolution.

And these are all places that travelers can visit to learn about the past.

And the 250th was coming up and I thought, wow, there's so many stories I'm collecting in filming this that I can't put into the show and that hadn't made it into the history books.

So I decided to document those stories and that is "Revolutionary Road Trip."

So you can read the book and learn, but also actually be inspired to travel to these locations in New Jersey and far beyond.

- Can we talk about some of these locations?

What stands out to you most about New Jersey?

I know there are so many, so let's just pick top few that really had an impression on you.

So, well, New Jersey is a crossroads of the American Revolution, and so much occurred within New Jersey that really changed the shape of America.

Princeton, New Jersey is a great destination.

It's one of the chapters, the first chapter in my book.

I mean, you can visit Princeton University's campus where there was a battle with Alexander Hamilton fought on what is now the campus.

And Nassau Hall is still there.

And there's great stories about what happened during that battle related to art, related to Hamilton, related to artillery and cannon fire going through Nassau Hall itself.

So lots to learn over near the university is also Princeton Battlefield State Park.

There are costumed interpreters there that really share insights into what life was like for everyday people during the Revolutionary War, which I think is important to learn sort of that side of the story.

So lots to learn out in Princeton, of course, great places to eat and drink like the Yankee Doodle Tap Room where you can grab a pint and look at a Norman Rockwell painting while you're while you're taking a sip of beer.

Take us into Morristown.

I know there's a whole lot of history in Morristown as well.

Morristown is super interesting.

If you want to take a look at revolutionary art, you can go to Morris Museum.

Lots to learn there.

The National Historical Park is a great site where you can go inside of George Washington's headquarters.

You can learn about that long, hard winter there in Morristown.

I just think when you go to these sites, they're so family-friendly.

If you can take a tour with a park guide or a ranger, they really contextualize what happened during this time period.

And Morristown is so interesting as well.

For many people, it's an easy train ride or an easy commute.

If you want to meet locals who are reenactors, go to Glenbrook Brewery as well.

A lot of people hang out there after they've done their day job, and they have all these beers that are named after different sites and locations that are relevant to our history.

So lots to learn out in Morristown as well.

- If anyone caught that there was just a quick glimpse of the Schuyler Hamilton house, right?

Anyone who's a Hamilton aficionado will recognize that.

- You know, those big names at the time are super fun to kind of call out as we travel around.

And there was a romance blooming with Alexander Hamilton at that house.

And again, a costumed interpreters on site kind of guide you through the story.

And it really brings it to life.

We think about the American Revolution, a lot of times we think about the battles, but there were so many occurrences including romances budding during the time period as well.

Yeah.

In North Jersey, again in Union County, there's a lot to see.

What do you have for us there?

So I found a lot in Union.

That's a whole episode of Travels with Darlie.

It's a revolutionary road trip episode.

Liberty Hall Museum, home of New Jersey's first elected governor, William Livingston.

That is a great place to discover history and so beautiful to walk around the grounds.

You're looking at footage from Caldwell Parsonage and we went to Boxwood Hall, Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church.

There's a historic Cannonball House.

Again, like a lot of sites that people wouldn't think about that are located in close proximity to everyday places you may drive by in New Jersey, which I think is really, really interesting, and also great places to eat and drink with history as well, like the Stage House Tavern.

They've been serving travelers since the 1700s, so it's been a gathering place for quite some time.

And in my travels, I did find a number of these colonial taverns that are still operating today, and I think that's really neat for people to be able to eat and drink in the past as they travel as well.

If you get on to South Jersey, there is so much.

Again, you're in close proximity to Philadelphia, but over in New Jersey, you can take a step back in time and feel like you've stepped into the past.

Haddonfield is one of the best sites to visit with Indian King Tavern.

It is not a working tavern, but if you go inside, you can learn about tavern life during that time period and they have a lot of replicas of what you would have had to eat or drink and what the different rooms would have been like for people actually frequenting these taverns in colonial times.

There's a great story about the Greenwich tea burning.

New Jersey had its own tea party, which you can learn about in South Jersey as well.

And again, all these sites like Pomona Hall and places, Red Bank Battlefield is super fascinating.

There's ongoing archaeology happening there and they're continually learning about the past.

That's something that I found super interesting when I was traveling to these sites.

Again, a lot of people think of this history as history, but we're still learning new things every day, including at places like Red Bank Battlefield.

I have to ask about you just personally, because you have this travel show and it takes you to places that maybe you wouldn't otherwise go to.

Did you become a history aficionado by doing this show?

Was it already a part of you?

I'm curious your development through the show through everything that you've seen and experienced.

You know I really did fall in love with history by doing this show.

I think it's so great to travel to sites to learn about the past.

It is that power of place and being I I did two episodes on Alabama's civil rights trail I got to interview women who lived through the movement as children and I met Rosa Parks' protege she was 12 years old sleeping on Rosa Parks' couch and hearing her share firsthand information about what happened during the time period that living history really made me fall in love with history and want to learn more and want to share the stories that we can all learn so much from so especially during this time period of the American Revolution, I feel that when you travel to these locations, it really does bring it to life in a different way.

And I think we can all relate to the past when we are able to stand in these locations where so much happened, these battlefields, these historic homes.

Now a lot of them are parks and preserved places.

And it's the people on the ground that when they convey their passion for what happened and their passion for knowing this information and sharing it, it really does just bring it to a whole new level.

Well, you have brought it to a whole new level for us and folks can go and check out the book, check out your episodes so that they can put their own tour together.

Darlie Newman, host and executive producer of Travels with Darlie and author of Revolutionary Road Trip.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

That's going to do it for us tonight.

I'm Joanna Gaggis.

For the entire team here at NJ Spotlight News, thanks for being with us.

We'll see you right back here tomorrow.

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